Police Identify Dead Woman As Missing Store Owner

DAYTONA BEACH — A badly decomposed body found Sunday has been identified as a Daytona Mall lingerie store owner, police said Wednesday.

Detective Tom Youngman said Cynthia Cunningham, 37, was last seen alive when she left Temptations Unlimited last Wednesday evening. A store employee reported her missing that night, he said.

Cunningham's car was found early Monday morning at the Volusia Mall, the day after a body was discovered in a grassy area along the 800 block of North Clyde Morris Boulevard, about 50 yards from the road, Youngman said.

Police suspected the dead woman might be Cunningham but weren't sure until a forensic dentist identified her from dental records Tuesday afternoon.

An autopsy showed the Port Orange woman died of a ''blunt force blow to the head,'' Youngman said.

Youngman said he believed Cunningham, who was to be married this weekend, was killed either last Wednesday or Thursday but said he doesn't have any other clues about her assailant.

He asked anyone with information regarding her death to call him at the police department.